The games started at 2:10 and didn’t get over until 7:30 in the DC regional. Let’s just say there was a lot of fouling. Here are four random thoughts:
1) Why doesn’t anyone try to run any isolation plays to take advantage of Drew Lavender’s lack of size? Xavier consistently kept him hidden on the weak side of the defense and because Purdue was willing to take the first open shot, he rarely had to defend anyone.
2) Bob Huggins has a brother that looks exactly like him, except that the brother is 100 lbs heavier. Bob came out to watch the Xavier game and hugged his brother at halftime. His brother was also wearing a horrible white suit over his yellow West Virginia t-shirt and he had 3 wrapped victory cigars sticking out of his mouth. You just can’t make this stuff up.
3) The Purdue band sang “Living on a Prayer” again.
4) Duke must really hate the Verizon center. They lost to Georgetown a few years ago and this year they beat Belmont by one and lost to West Virginia. The Duke fan sitting behind us only screamed “Go Devils” eight times during this game. Another Duke fan near me was heard on his cell-phone asking whether the team had any centers coming in next year. West Virginia out-rebounded Duke 45-19. That’s hard to overcome.